An interview with Summer Heart
David Alexander from Sweden is Summer Heart. We can’t think of any better music to listen to while on a beach sipping on a cocktail (greetings from cold and rainy London). We had the pleasure to have a chat with him after his gig in Dalston last night.
TuneMunch: Where exactly are you from in Sweden?
Summer Heart: I’m from a small town called Halmstad in the south west but I live in Malmö, it’s very close to Denmark, just across the bridge.
TM: What’s the name of the synth/guitar player? Is he a fixed part of Summer Heart?
SH: Frederick is one of my best friends. I make all the music myself at home, I record and release everything myself but when you play live it’s not the same if it’s just me.
TM: On stage you played just with Frederick. Is this your perfect set up to play live?
SH: I would prefer more people. We just came from America, that’s why we’re just two people. Usually we’re three or four.
TM: Tell us about that! You played at SXSW!
SM: It was so exciting! There were so many people and there was so much going on that I don’t even know where to start. I just loved it, it was great. I love meeting new people and playing music. We played about two shows a day, we played eight shows when we were there.
TM: In what kind of venues did you play?
SH: All sorts of different venues. We played on an outdoor stage in great weather, at another outdoor stage in the rain. Then we played at 10 in the morning once at a house party. The same day we played 12AM at a weird but really cool bar.
TM: Was it what you expected it to be?
SH: It was hotter than I expected. We flew from New York where it was snowing. We were supposed to play in New York but we had to postpone the gigs unfortunately because of Visa issues. We’ll be back there in June 2015.
TM: What kind of music do you listen to yourself? What’s on you playlist right now?
SH: I play all sorts of music actually. On my playlist right now is a lot of Raveonettes, one of my favourite bands and they are from Denmark. They released a new album in December. I’m very much inspired by them.
TM: Do you play with other bands or musicians from Sweden?
SH: I know a lot of musicians and I would love to play with them but they are busy just like myself. Frederick plays in other bands as well and he’s a great songwriter so in a way I am amazed that he actually makes the time to play with Summer Heart, which I really appreciate.
TM: So explain to us how gigs abroad work in a practical sense. So you get all your stuff together, check everything in at the airport, then pray everything arrives?
SH: I don’t know where to start but I need to buy new gear! It’s really expensive to check everything in every time, so we have a big suitcase where we put the synthesiser, mixer all the guitars, our clothes, everything, and we just hope for the best. When we arrived in the states I was shaking the mixer and something was rattling inside, something was loose in there. I opened it to see what it was and it was a big part of the motherboard that came loose. We screwed it back together and it worked, but some functions won’t work anymore. Today we lost a wheel of the suitcase and it’s very heavy.
TM: Maybe we should start a Kickstarter!
SH: Yes Kickstarter, help me buy a new suitcase!
TM: Are you Summer Heart full time?
SH: Yes, I don’t know how it happened but I have worked very hard for this band. It is my life kind of so I’m really happy about that. We’re playing a lot and we’re selling a lot as well. I realise it every night when we play a gig like this one that people sing along to my songs.
TM: Your Facebook page says that your genre is Summerwave // Lo-fi dreamin’ // Homemade // DIY, how exactly did you come to that?
SH: I just wrote something because it’s hard to describe music, so I ended up having listeners describe me. I don’t really know what it is, it’s just music that I love to make. I can’t decide what it sounds like, I just go for it.
TM: You mentioned that you only played the song “I wanted you to stay at the other side” because people requested it at gigs. Didn’t you want to play that song originally?
SH: I love that song but we usually never play it live. It’s a down tempo song and I like to play up tempo music when we play live. Last week everyone seemed to request it so we just played it tonight and realised how much people like it.
TM: Are your songs about real stories?
SH: It’s hard when people ask me what the songs are about. They are about something but at the same time I don’t want to tell what they are about, because I want people to remember their own experience and way of interpreting the songs, I might destroy the listeners feeling of the song. You’ll just have to figure it out yourself.
TM: What do people really need to know about Summer Heart?
SH: The most important thing for me is that I really love making the music that I make.
TM: Does it take you a long time to make an album?
SH: Sometimes yes. I write a lot of music and I enjoy that but sometimes they don’t make it as a track on an album. I might make 40 tracks and release 8 of them. Even when we are traveling I write. I write poetry so this helps when creating the lyrics. When I’m starting a new songs I’ll go back to some old poems and I might just rearrange some bits. It’s just pure inspiration.
TM: Do you make Swedish songs?
SH: No I don’t. English is the language of pop music. Everything I listened to as a kid and listen to now is in English.
TM: What did you listen to when you were younger?
SH: I listen to a lot of ’60s stuff. My father is a musician as well, so I’d listen to the Beatles, the Kinks, the Birds. I really like those bands. I also listen to a lot of electronic music, like the Knife. One of my favorite bands ever.
TM: What is coming up for Summer Heart?
SM: We’re going to release a new EP on the 6th of April “Thinking of U”. Then we are making an album as well. We’re going to play at the alternative Great escape, so we’ll be back in the UK in May.
Keep your ears out for this gentleman! Listen to Summer Heart on Spotify or Youtube below or get it on Itunes.
Summer Heart – About A Feeling
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